Did you
know that a woman 5'4" tall can have a spine as long as a 6'
man, and that it's relatively common? The woman in this case has what
is called a long torso while the man has a short torso. We see
it every day in our Seattle store. People are breaking the rules again!
The biggest mistake we see other shops making is assuming women have
shorter backs than they really do. Many shops fit women with
the belts up around the waist or above the pelvis rather than saddled
around the pelvis. This is not a good recipe except for specialized
day-climbing packs. We see more woman that are misfit with packs than
men. In general, women have longer backs in proportion to their height
than men. To determine which type of back you have for your height,
we have developed our own reliable measuring method using two major
body landmarks. Please read this page in full.

<-- The first landmark to locate is the 7th cervical vertebra.
Drop your head head forward to find it at he base of your neck. It
is the major bump at the junction of your forward leaning neck and
the vertical spine below.

This model is pointing out the sixth and seventh cervical vertebra.
When you run your hand down your neck, you will first encounter #6.
Number 7 is the point you need to find.

Point 7C in general, is level with the top of the trapezius muscles
- the area where the shoulder muscles intersect the neck - that is
also an excellent reference point and the same height - please use
this point. Although the photo does not show the measuring tape continuing
to the floor - measure to the floor.

Please scroll down to the next step and read the entire page before
measuring.

Please scroll down

<--
The other landmark is medial area of the iliac crest. This is the
highest point on the pelvis that is midway between the front and rear
of the pelvis - and also the highest widest spot. You must dig in
and find the actual top of the crest. Do not measure from the pointy
protrusion on the front of the hip bone crest that is 2 inches lower!
Officially, that point is the protrusion at the top of the illiac
spine of the pelvis. The lower point would be in the area of the higher
pocket rivet on the model's Levis.

Consult
at least one anatomy book or google 'illium' to see different views
of the structure.

The
pelic drawing below, downloaded from the net with our marks added,
shows the point A that people mistakingly measure as the Crest.

Landmark #3: This is a new one
for 2010. It helps us evaluate Demo photos. Measure the distance of
the point of the elbow to the floor (just like the illiac crest measurement).
Be sure not to lift the shoulder and keep shoulders level while the
arms hang. The elbow is generally just above the illiac crest and
is generally very near the top edge of hip belts when they are worn
properly. This will help to verify accuracy of illiac measurements
also. The illiac crest to floor measurements are generally the ones
that are measured inaccurately and are too long - mostly because people
measure front the front protrusion of the hip bone rather than from
higher on the side closer to the elbow. (see below) Photo of elbow
measurement soon!

Point
A (below) is the protruding point at the very front of the pelvis
- the wrong spot to measure from. This point is forward but probably
still considered the crest - which causes much confusion - but it
can be almost 2" lower than the medial area of the crest that
is higher and on the side of the body - at a wider spot of the pelvis.

Dig
into your pelvis and feel how the the ridge of bone climbs from
point A upward and outward like a curving staircase to the area of
the Crest that is below the ribcage. When our floor to crest measurement
is measured to point A, the measurements are too short and this creates
a higher number when that measurement is subtracted from the floor
to top of shoulders measurement.

When
men are overweight and have more than just a bit of a belly, a hipbelt
cannot grab the upper part of the pelvis, and the pack MUST be worn
lower. This would represent a compromised fit, and less hip loading
performance from any brand pack can be expected with interference
with leg lift movement and circulation. This is less of a problem
for overweight women it seems. One of the greatest denials of the
pack industry in the relationship between physical fitness and backpack
performance and is one of the factors that drives the UL pack industry.

Note:
We regularly build packs that can be shortened for future anticipated
weight loss. In general, the front hip bone A will be centered in
the front of the hip belt, while the higher point or area B, will
be at the top of the hip-belt for a person that is in good phyical
fittness. Women in general tend to wear packs a bit higher
but we still use the same measurement method. For less fit people,
especially less fit men, the belts have to sit lower and this amount
varies from individual to individual. In general, many people tend
to wear their belts too low also - this being a result of a lack of
understanding of how to adjust pack harnesses properly to get the
packs up high. Then of course there is also a problem with many women
that are fitted with packs that are too short because too many assumptions
are made, and they then have to wear the packs way too high to keep
the load off the shoulders. For women: Hip belts in general should
go around the upper areas of the pelvis - not around the waist
.

Below:Our
measuring method incorporates the two landmarks with their two seperate
measurements outlined in the text above. One measures from the floor
to a point level with the 7th cervical vertebra or the top of the
trapezius muscles. The other measures from
the floor to a point level with the iliac crest.
We are interested in the difference between the two numbers. Measure
in stocking feet or with shoes. We use this method because it is more
fail safe than some other methods.

Do
the math: It's easy math! It only looks complicated because we want
to make it easy. Dan McHale at 6' tall has numbers like this: 62.5-45=17.5

7th
cervical (to floor)

illiac
crest (to floor)

spine
measurement

-

=

(7th cervical minus
illiac crest = spine measurement)

The
man and woman mentioned above both at the start of this page had a
difference of 17". 17" is relatively short for a man
of 6' while it is long for a 5'4" woman. 17.5 - 18 is medium/average
length for a 6 footer. We rarely see a difference greater than 20",
18"-19" is common for taller men 6' or over. Women
don't generally go below 14.5" and hover around 15.5. These
numbers are quite universal with most people falling in with these
mean numbers or close to them.

In
our shop, our tapes are taped to a length of flat metal so that one
end can be held down by the foot. This frees the person doing
the measuring to more accurately eyeball the points level with the
landmarks. After all is said and done, your demo pack will do the
real measuring of your body. The measurements are
primarily for getting you a good fitting and adjustable demo pack
that we use as the final basis for buiding a pack.
It is actually the way a pack interacts with your unique physique
that is looked at. These numbers are simply a guide to that end.

Measuring for the Hip Belt
To measure your hips for the hip belt circumference, use a tape measure
and measure the area 1" below the iliac crest, or in general,
the area between the front protrusion of the pelvis and the Crest.
You will find that this is also about 1" above the front protruding
hip bone.

Pull the the tape about 1/2" snug if you are lean, and 1"
to 2" if you are overweight. Also, let us know if you are
planning on losing weight. We build the belts to 1/4" increments
of length in five different heights for CM belts and 2 height for
Sarc belts.